So my brother called me the other day inquiring about my generator in my RV. He bought an RV and was asking if there was anything he needed to know. I asked him if the sales rep didn’t explain all of this stuff to him prior to purchasing. He said no. I asked if he was sure. You see, my brother was always a little to gung ho about certain things and didn’t really sweat the details or repercussion. A purchase of a snow blower comes to mind when he rarely gets any snow. Probably a months worth of snow he gets. But I’m going off topic. Luckily, for him a RV is a great purchase especially since he likes to take his family on a lot of spur of the moment trips. So I gave him the rundown on the generator. He needs to make sure that he turns it on every now and then when he isn’t using the RV. About once a month. Also, I let him know that he shouldn’t have to worry about not using the RV’s A/C because its more energy efficient to use the RV’s A/C and not the console ac. I also went into detail about not running the portable generator past certain hours on a camp ground because the sound is inconsiderate to your fellow campers and you may get a stern talking to from an elderly couple. Like I did… But that’s about all I needed to tell him for now.
Monthly Archives: February 2011
Home is where the work is
Working from home can be the best thing ever. No going to an office, no commutes and you work on your own hours and in the comfort of your own home! You see I run my own little web business. I create web sites and designs and I also host from home. Because I host from here I thought it would be important to have a home generator just incase the power goes out. If my power goes out and the servers go down then I’m in deep DEEP trouble. Within a year of buying my generator I was starting to question if I made the right choice. I bought a generator but there have been no power outs. All of my regrets washed away when one stormy day the power went kaput. The generator kicked in and my servers were safe and sound. Thanks to this generator the clients who I host didn’t even know anything was wrong.
Costal Storms
I live in an area where we are prone to costal storms. I’m not close to the water so my house is safe from damage but the power is almost always certain to go out at the first sign of those dark storm clouds. For the longest time I and my family would just ride it out and wait for the power to come back on. Some times it would take a couple minutes, sometimes a couple hours or even a couple days. There’s just no way of actually knowing for sure. I mean its not like you can turn on the news and see when the power will come on. How could you? There’s no power to turn on the tv. After a while, my husband decided to buy a Generac generator. It’s great! Anytime the power goes out now the generator kicks in. What’s even better is that it’s fairly quiet! I don’t know how we even lived without a generator.
Hydrogen Generators
Another type of hydrogen generator is a fueling station for hydrogen cars. Keep in mind that not all fueling stations function as generators, however. The ones that are will either be reform natural gas such as the Honda Home Energy Station IV or they will use sunlight or wind-power to electrolyze water to create hydrogen. Aside from the large commercial hydrogen fueling stations, another type of station that is being developed is the home hydrogen fueling station. These types of hydrogen generators such as being developed by Honda (previously mentioned), General Motors and perhaps even General Electric are meant to sit in one’s garage and generate fuel for one’s car.
Another kind of hydrogen generator is commonly used in the industrial marketplace. Hydrogen is generated for use for the electronics industry, petroleum refineries, metals processing, glass manufacturing and hydrogenation of food products.
Then there are ultra high purity hydrogen generators common in the medical and research fields. This type of hydrogen generator usually uses distilled or de-ionized water to create the high purity H2 for gas chromatography or other medical and research applications.
Determine Generator Size
To determine your generators size you should tally up all the power requirements for the items on your list, giving you the smallest size for your generator. There are recommendations that the manufacturers adding a 10 to 20 percent buffer to that figure to ensure your generator has sufficient capacity. For instance, if the power requirements add up to 6000 watts, the generator should have a capacity of 6600 to 7200 watts.
Add the start-up wattage requirement. This identifies the peak capacity your generator must have. For example, if you have determined that your sump pump demands an additional 1000 watts during start up, add that to the generator size you calculated.
Start shopping for a generac generator of the appropriate size. If you find that you are exceeding your budget, you can go back through your list and determine if there are any items you can do without during an outage. Remove them from the list and recalculate your requirements.
What to buy?
A generac generator can be a great investment for your house and your family, this is an even better investment when you live in an area that is prone to power outages. One big aspect to think about in your buying decision is the power output that the generator can generate. Too little and the generator could have issues generating enough power for items such as heating, well pumps, refrigerators and other high-energy users, that could end up causing damage to the generator along with electrical equipment. On the other hand, if you buy a standby generator that is too large for your needs it will increase the purchase price , fuel consumption and maintenance. Assess some knowledge of what your home’s power requirements before making a purchase.Make a list of all the systems and appliances in your home that you want to use during a power outage. Start with the key systems that affect your entire home: heating, air conditioning, well pumps, sump pumps, security systems, etc.Go into each room in your home and then tally up a list of the appliances you find. Begin with the kitchen, this has more of the larger appliances: refrigerators, freezers, ovens and electric ranges. List any small appliances: televisions, radios, and such that you will want to use in each room. What are the lighting requirements of each room? These will help decide your power needs a little bit.
Power Needs
For a home generator, to estimate your power needs, in watts, make a list of of each appliance in your residence. Take a close look at the manufacturer’s label on each appliance, these will show how much electrical power it consumes. In some cases, the figure will be given in amps. To calculate wattage, multiply the amps by the voltage of the electrical circuit the device uses. Here’s an example, if a hair dryer’s label says it uses 10 amps, and it plugs into a normal 110 volt electrical outlet, it consumes 10 X 110, or 1100 watts. Calculate your minimum requirements for each of the items on your list. Items that have compressors or other electric motors require a surge of power the instant they start, usually with a higher amount than the power level they need under normal operation. A refrigerator that consumes 600 watts, for example, may use 1200 watts at start up when the compressor starts. Many generator manufacturers’ websites describe these requirements for a number of items. Select the single item with the greatest starting power requirement. It is probably unlikely that more than one device will start at the same instant, use this single item to see what the generator’s peak power requirement is.
Liquid Cooled Units
For people looking for a reliable, efficient, cost-effective generator solution, water-cool generators are a good choice for even a home generator. Water-cooled generators are well suited for applications where output requirements exceed the cooling capabilities of an air-cooled or hydrogen-cooled generator.
Cool, de-ionized water, supplied by a closed-loop auxiliary system, flows through copper strands in the stator winding, and the warm water is discharged at the turbine end of the generator. The output is heightened by optimization of its bar strand configuration, including hollow-to-solid-strand ratio.
Because high-output machines are so important to the overall stability of the grid, water-cooled generators need to be fairly reliable. Fan efficiency is improved to reduce loss and increase output.
Advantages of an Air Cooled power generator
Air-cooled generators are fantastic for power system functions that need simple and versatile operation.Air-cooled generators function with both an open-loop or a closed-loop cooling system. In an open-loop system, the generator delivers air to cool its lively components, and exhausts the air into the atmosphere. In the closed-loop system, cool air is re-circulated continuously via the generator though air-to-water heat exchangers remove heat from the air.Possibly the most vital factors of a generator’s layout is the effectiveness the insulation system. The prospective for extreme corona discharge damage is a problem to the layout of air-cooled generators. A generator could have a system of insulating and voltage-grading components to guarantee freedom from harmful corona activity.